A million young people are thought to be unemployed as the total reaches a 15 year high.
What methods can the Government use to get the economy growing again?
On Question Time tonight there were a couple of interesting ideas:
1. Introduce a National Insurance freeze for new jobs. An amendment to this was the more radical idea of abolishing National Insurance contributions altogether for people under 24.
2. Using jobseeker's allowance to help subsidise small firms who are looking to hire young people. So instead of the firm having to pay say £100 a week, they would only be paying £50 a week (as the government would contribute the other £50), which would mean more young people in work and having more disposable income to spend on goods and services.
3. Another idea was to bring back the YTS scheme.
Party politics did play its part also with Labour speaking of a Future Jobs fund and the Conservatives speaking of their planned programme at present to create new jobs.
But perhaps in radical times radical (and practical) ideas are needed.
Interestingly, Sir Simon Jenkins argued that spending £700 billion on bailing out the banks could have been better used by building houses and capital projects which would put the money in the bank accounts of ordinary workers rather than propping up the very institutions that helped create the financial mess we are in just now.
Food for thought!
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